Nursing bottle holder



w. RAUCH 3,425,653

NURSING BOTTLE HOLDER Filed Aug. 25, 1967 Feb. 4; 1969 FIG. A9

INVENTOR. W/LL/AM QA UCH /QUW United States Patent Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A nursing bottle holder attached to an overlying support and having two dependent straps which diverge and connect with opposite ends of a further strap portion which extends lengthwise along the side of a nursing bottle, the lengthwise strap portion having a pair of spaced elastic loops forengaging about a nursing bottle. The strap at the mouth end of the bottle has a shorter effective length than'the other to support the bottle in an upwardly inclined non-leaking position. The shorter strap is elastic and the other dependent strap is non-elastic so that a downward pull inclines the bottle downwardly to nursing position. The straps are snap-fastened along their upper portions toadjust their relative lengths.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to a holder for supporting a nursing bottle with respect to a crib or the like in such position that it overlies the infant therein and is readily accessible to such infant for nursing purposes.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Various nursing bottle holders or supports have been proposed in the prior art, some involving jointly or swinging support arm s, flexible supports such as coil springs, and other supports having as their object tosupport the nursing bottle in a non-leaking position when not in use. In the latter class of supports the bottles are; not usually held in a secure non-leaking position and the means for presenting the bottle in nursing position have not been satisfactory.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a sling consisting of a combination of elastic and non-elastic strap members which normally support the nursing bottle in an upwardly inclined position but which strap members are so arranged that a downward pull on the bottle automatically causes the same to move to a downwardly inclined position for convenient nursing purposes due to the relationship of the elastic and non-elastic strap members of the holder.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of one form of the nursing bottle holder of the present invention mounted on a babys crib or the like;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the nursing bottle holder showing the same with the bottle in a position of non-use; and

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-section on the line III-III of FIG. 2.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1 the numerals 10 and 11 designate the opposite side rails of a babys crib and a rod 12 is mounted to extend across the crib. For this purpose a pair of downwardly facing channels 13 and 14 are fixed to the ends of rod 12 and are preferably of plastic or other resilient material so that they may readily be clipped onto the rails 10 and 11 as shown.

The holder of the present invention, in the form illustrated herein by way of example, comprises a sling made up of flexible bands of fabric or similar material. According to the invention portions of the sling are of elastic, stretchable material while other portions are of non-elastic material.

The principal component of the sling is a strap member 16 of flexible but non-stretchable material, preferably fabric or the like, which in the present form has five male snap fastener elements 17 along a medial portion thereof and two female snap fastener elements 18 at its upper end. Either of the female elements 18 may be snap fastened to corresponding male elements 17 to form a return bent loop portion 19 which engages about rod 12 as illustrated. A second strap member 20 of elastic material has a pair of female snap fastener elements 21 at its upper end which may be attached to any of the male fastener elements 17 of the strap member 16, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Thus various height relationships are provided for. The lower ends of both of the strap members 16 add 20 are overlapped, as shown in FIG. 2, and a stiffening member 22 of plastic or the like ovelies the overlapped portions, the three layers being attached by a grommet 23.

A pair of bottle embracing loops 24 are formed of elastic material and overlap at their upper ends as illustrated in FIG. 3, lying between the stiffening plate 22 and the overlapped lower ends of the strap member 16 and 20. The bottle which is engaged in the loops 24 is designated 26. Grommets 25 secure the several overlapped portions, as shown in FIG. 3.

While various height relationships andrelalive length relationships of the strap members 16 and 20 may be attained, the usual desired position of the nursing bottle when not in use is as illustrated in FIG. 2 so that the nipple opening is above the liquid level and leakage or dripping is prevented. The stretchability of the strap member 20 permits an infant to grasp the nursing bottle and pull downwardly thereon to reverse the inclination of the bottle and present the same for feeding.

Iclaim:

1. In a nursing bottle holder, a sling of generally triangular extent wherein the base of said triangle is adapted to extend longitudinally along the side of a nursing bottle with the legs of said triangle extending generally upwardly, a support member at the apex of said legs, one of said legs being of non-elastic material and of a greater effective length than the other of said legs whereby the sling normally supports the bottle in an upwardly inclined position, said other leg being of elastic material whereby a downward pull on the bottle stretches the shorter elastic leg to incline the bottle downwardly to present the same in nursing position.

2. A nursing bottle holder according to claim 1 wherein the base of said triangle has a pair of spaced loops for encircling a nursing bottle.

3. A nursing bottle holder according to claim 1 wherein said upwardly extending legs merge into portions lying against each other, and detachable fasteners along said last-mentioned portions for adjusting the relative lengths of said legs.

4. A nursing bottle holder according to claim 2 wherein 4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,097,097 5/1914 Jensen 248-103 2,539,698 1/1951 Pearson 248-104 3,144,230 8/1964 Brooks 248102 FOREIGN PATENTS 86,405 9/1955 Norway.

said upwardly extending legs merge into portions lying '0 CHANCELLOR HARRIS, Primary Examinen against each other, and detachable fasteners along said last-mentioned portions for adjusting the relative lengths of said legs.

5. A nursing bottle holder according to claim 2 wherein the spaced nursing bottle encircling loops are of elastic 15 material. 

